What Lies Within
by ILuvWrtng
Summary: Set 2 years after Episode 5 Obi-wan's daughter, a Jedi Knight, is struggling to reconstruct the Jedi Order, save her mother's once beautiful planet and stay on the right side of the force. The only problem is, the elements are against her. Slight AU
1. Prologue: The Departure

**Full Summary: **Two years after Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi's daughter, now Twenty is in a desperate battle against the odds; along with new found friends and old, to rebalance the force, reunite the Jedi Order, destroy the Sith and bring peace and beauty back to her mother's once wonderous planet. All forces though, seem to be against her...even herself. Is she too much like Master Skywalker? And can the Order; made of new friends and old ones we have grown to love survive, flurish and save the now endangered universe? Or will it all fall to the darkness that lingers over them like an undying shadow?

**A/N:** This is my first technical fan fiction so please, bare with me. I would appreciate constructive cristism but please nothing nasty or rude. My grammer stinks, which you already know from reading this note so, yeah, I'm sorry. This is a 'rewrite' of an old plot and story I wrote after watching and obsessing over the movies. I am not familiar with the books and this is a slight AU so things will be a bit different as I continue. I just thought I'd warn you. :D Anyway, more to come soon...Enjoy!!

* * *

Their house was generally plain, not spectacular by any means. It wasn't large but rather in fact very small, barely big enough for one person better yet two so quarters were tight and it was always sandy because of the never ending sand filled land of Tatooine. The small place they called home was primarily filled only with the means necessary for survival, training and what little tokens she and her father had brought this forsaken land that had any reminiscence with her mother. God rest her soul. It wouldn't be long now; she had some strange feeling, before her parents were reunited within the force.

The door to their house opened quickly, the sound of whirling winds interrupting her thoughts and shut just as quickly with a gentle suction sound, as if it was merely the wind which opened it and shut it when in fact she knew it was far more. He lowered his hood and walked within the confines of his room, disappearing into the shadow of the darkened room, he seemed to always like it darker in there. Standing up from her reading table and setting aside her studies she rose, soft bare feet padding across the floor as she made her way towards the room. Perhaps she should let him go about his ways in peace, but a sudden curiosity had been raised in her by his entrance. Typically he spoke to her when he entered at any given time but this time he didn't, his mind was consumed in other thoughts she could tell. The closer she got the stronger the force became, such a bond she had with her father a bond she never wished to sever. She was far too attached to him, she knew, and possibly such a thing was dangerous, such feelings but life was worth the risk, he was not the only one that held her heart. He was just the one who had held it first.

Slowly and nervously she walked over to her father's doorway, leaning on it for a moment from where she stood she could clearly see the makings of his room. She entered further keeping as quiet as possible. It was generally plain, like the rest of the house but with touches of the past, touches of a time far more graceful, elegant and memorable than the one they lived in now. In the midst her father stood, back turned towards her as he seemed to be packing things upon his bed. Beside him, on his night stand among other tokens sat a crystal clear picture of her mother, smiling widely, and eyes bright and full of love and laughter as if nothing could pull her down. She resembled so much of an angel.

"Will you return?" She inquired, finally speaking. Her voice lightly startled him from his deep thoughts. Slowly he turned and allowed himself to set his eyes upon his fifteen-year-old daughter, her once bright blue eyes, so much like his, were clouded with concern. Her light body powdered in freckles and tanned and reddened by the planet's hot sun.

"Possibly," Obi-wan told her but the way he looked away as he picked up his light saber gave her insight to the idea of otherwise.

Her eyes shifted and fell; gently she slipped from the doorway and into the small kitchen. She had been trained to be prepared for this, she had been trained to handle, with-hold and control every human emotion. Why then was this thought so hard? Why was it so hard for her to see her father leave, as he always did, with the possibility of no return? Although, it was not as much of a possibility as it was a probable reality that at one point he would leave and never return only to fall in battle. Her father had warned her of this day, the day a young man, the son of her father's former apprentice would be in need of his assistance. When that day came she would conceal herself in her and her father's mountainous home, hidden from all outside dangerous as she had all fifteen years of her life and prepare for the next saga of her life.

"Alantyis," Obi-Wan spoke gently coming from the confines of his room, placing his things by the entry way and shutting his bedroom door. When she didn't turn to face him but rather stood there at the sink, staring out the window as if in deep thought he walked towards her.

Something was wrong, he knew it.

"My daughter," He whispered to her, placing his hands upon her shoulders feeling the distress within the force surrounding her and the ache in her heart as if it were his own. "Please do not dwell on what may come or what is to come. Do not mourn what path destiny has paved for me…or what sorrows you may see now or in the rest of your long life. Only mourn the memories of the man I leave behind when I take my leave. Do not dwell on saddened times or memories, move on, create a life that fulfills you to the greatest potential using all that I have ever told you if you need my memory so dear." Alantyis closed her eyes in remembrance of such meaningful words; he'd said them nearly a thousand times in stories of the past. He'd spoken of the last era of the war so freely, wanting her to hear every world of the old way to prepare for the new. Not all of it was pleasant, and she always knew when it was hard for her father to speak about it but yet, he never stopped, as if talking about it eased the pain. "I told your mother those words more than once for her death." His voice was solemn as he spoke of the woman who captured his heart and would forever hold it and whom he would forever miss until they were joined together in the force once more.

Dipping her head she sighed before lightly lifting it again, "What if I cannot follow them?" She spoke gently looking at her father, "What if they bring me no console and only make me yearn to keep you here?" Her youthful but yet wise eyes which reminded him both so much of his own and so much of her mother's green ones stared up at him, pure insecurity, heart-ache and concern shining through as if she were leading ships through the fog on a cloudy night. "I fear I cannot take over your duty father…I fear I cannot," She heaved a sigh, thoroughly ashamed by the thoughts she was thinking, "I'm not sure I can continue without you here father." Nervously she wet her lips, eyes lowering, "And I know I should not feel this way, or feel many of the feelings that I still seem to."

Concerned Obi-wan paid close attention to her as the force shifted around his daughter, the more she thought and fought herself over feelings, emotions and inner thoughts she knew were not something she should be thinking of the more clouded, entangled and trouble the force around her became. It strengthened and condensed dangerously around the young girl.

"Alantyis, you are a highly capable girl. I have trained you since you were young, as have many of my friends; you are no stranger to combat nor are you weak in it. In fact," He smiled, his elder eyes twinkling a bit as he prepared to tease her, "you have beaten both Master Yoda and I in it." Immediately she ducked her head, a bright pink tint flushing her cheeks before she dared look back up at her father, knowing in full length he was not quite finished. "The force is strong around you_ and_ within you; I would trust no one else to take over my job."

Her heart sank at his words, he_ was_ preparing for the worst. He had no intentions of coming back, she could feel it.

The sudden stir in the force around his daughter worried Obi-Wan, it was a dangerous feeling as emotions over flowed and struggled to settle. "Let go of the fear of loss, my daughter," He carefully advised her as several things in the room trembled, her ability to restrain her emotions was improving but she still struggled so hard. "Death is a natural part of life, one we must all face no matter how much we may wish otherwise."

Alantyis' head turned back towards the window and beneath his hands he felt the heavy rising and falling of her heaving in heavy, deep breaths trying her best to calm herself, "Yes father." She told him quietly.

He stared down at her head for quite sometime, waiting until he was sure she was calmed. In many ways he hesitated leaving her. She was in so many was like his old apprentice but yet in so many ways she was so different.

Letting out a quiet sigh he called his things to him, "I will be taking Luke back to the other hut," He informed her as he slung a bag over his shoulder temporarily releasing his gentle grasp on her shoulders. "You will not see me before I do so."

There was no response but the conflict in the force around his only child. The struggle to control all emotions was so intense it worried him. One again he placed both hands on her shoulders, "Take in deep breaths, Alantyis," He whispered to her, "Soon this will all be but a memory." Lightly he kissed her head and she sighed closing her eyes, tears burning her throat.

She had such a bad feeling this would be that last time she'd ever set eyes upon her father in the living sense. "Never stop," He whispered to her, "Never let anyone tell you, you are something you are not. You are all you need to believe in you, you don't_ need_ someone else to believe in you. You already have yourself and that's all that _needs_ to believe." Temporarily releasing all feelings of unease she turned and looked at him, "Yes father." She sounded far more confident than before.

Once more finding some strength within her she smiled and hugged him, "I love you," her words were so simple but they had all the meaning in the universe behind them. Obi-wan hugged her back returning her words just as heartfelt before turning and walking out the door leaving her alone in the rocky, sand-dune surrounded home with no other intelligent life than her mother's old R10 unit and the sand people who came out at night.

Quickly she dashed to the door leaning out the door way as her father walked to his speeder; it would get him quicker across the valleys that way he could reach Luke in less time. "Dad!" She called to him and he turned. Taking a nervous breath she held her head high, "May the force be with you." The wind whipped her long sheet of blonde hair as she spoke, the words felt so strange upon her tongue but yet, so right. Hearing such old and familiar words on his daughters tender voice made him smile, "May the force be with you, my precious daughter." He returned her words before turning and walking off and out of her physical life forever.

There Alantyis stood watching as her father walked out into the oblivion until the suns set deep within the depths of the sky. The wind violently whipped her shirt, cloak and her semi-braided hair as her eyes scanned the distance. But yet, she didn't care. Closing her eyes as the cooling air passed her face she took in a deep breath. Everything seemed so peaceful despite the circumstances; the sunset so beautiful, the air so sweet and for a moment, she was home.

But she knew for sure that that moment would only last for seconds because she was not home. Everything was not peaceful, the air was not as sweet as it seemed nor was the sunset as breathtaking.

There was another war coming or more so…_the last one had never ended_.


	2. Chapter One: Seduction

**A/N** This is my second chapter, which is several years after the Return of the Jedi and Obi-Wan Kenobi's daughter is now in her early twenties and embarking on dangerous missions with close friends some new and some old to save the Jedi.

_ItalicsAlantyis' thoughts_

* * *

The music in the club was high strung and over powering compared to the sound of speeders outside, it was a cold night but the club was full of people and full of heat. The lights within the club whirled around in the near smog as dancers danced. All of this was so unusual, she was used to the clubs on Tatooine, and clubs there were less extravagant. This, however, was Coruscant, once a Jedi home it was now a highly made-up city full of extravagant people and a heavy night life.

She kept her hood on as she entered the club, her guard was up so high she guessed not even a speeder could clear it. Taking a breath she allowed herself to relax, if she didn't she'd never finish the job. Luke walked up behind her lowering his hood, "Where do you want me to go?" He whispered so no one else could hear.

Not daring to speak a word quite yet she turned her head towards him and tilted it one way while snapping her fingers in the same direction. Lightly he smiled and followed, "We'll be watching." He told her in a low tone, his voice nearly droned out by the music as he walked into the mesh of dancing peoples.

Taking one last deep breath Alantyis lowered her hood, ducking her head lightly as she did so careful not to mess up the hair Leia had been spending hours perfecting. Straightening so she stood full length and as straight as a board as she tossed one side of her cloak over one of her shoulders and detached her weaponry. Once done she detached her cloak, careful to hide her weaponry beneath her cloak as she hung it beneath another familiar one.

Slowly she turned, eyes scanning the scene before her and then she walked over to the bar. Finally falling into place with herself she allowed her hips to jerk gracefully from side to side in a sultry manor as she made her way down the stairs and to the empty seat she had her eyes on. "Hi there," She spoke seductively to the man beside her, her words rolling off her tongue in such an inviting way. As the young man turned to look at her from his drink she clicked her fingers signaling to the bar tender she wanted a drink. "Hello," The man said before taking his time to look her up and down with much pleasure. "Hi." She repeated with a bright smile, gently flicking her angled bangs from her face, eyes a glow as she reached out for the glass the bar tender shot towards her.

"Are you new here?" The man asked, "I haven't seen you around here before," He took another satisfied look at her, "and I'm sure I would have remembered you."

Alantyis smiled sipping slowly from her cup, "I'm sure I would have remembered you as well." She spoke softly but put every seductive hint behind every word she could. "I'm from the outer rims, I just moved here on business." Lightly she looked over at him, "What about you?"

He smiled, "Moved here years ago I know this place pretty darn well, much more than an outlander like you, maybe I should show you around?"_ Perfect_, an invite. Alantyis smiled beneath the rim of her cup before setting it down. She turned, looking at him from the corner of her eyes allowing them to glint, "Maybe I'll just let you." Lightly she tilted her head running her fingers tenderly down the nape of her neck. Moving her body closer to him she nonchalantly thrusted out her plunging neck-line and playfully chewed her nail. "You dance?" Alantyis questioned him lightly nodding and moving her eyes towards the dancing crowd.

If she could just work him a little more hopefully she could convince him to come back to her apartment, just as her team had planned.

He smirked, "A little, do you?" His eyes were sparkling when he rose his eyebrows high on to his forehead in a pleasure filled manor.

Skillfully Alantyis gave a small sensual sigh and bit the tip of her pointer fingers' nail, blue eyes sparkling like diamonds, "A bit."

"Care to show me?" He invited and she smiled. He was taking the bait so perfectly.

"Of course," Gracefully she slipped off the bar stool, took his hand for a few moments and led him towards the dance floor. Once on it she released his hand allowing herself to let go to the music. Closing her eyes she held her arms above her head as she let her hips gyrate to the beat of the music. "What's your name?" She called over her shoulder slowly moving her hands towards her pinned up hair.

"Geshna," He rose his voice over the music, eyes fixated on the girl before him in wonderment…never in his life had he met someone so…free. "What about yours outlander?"

Playfully she giggled as if in heaven itself closing her eyes and allowing her arms to rest behind her head fingertips barely touching her neck. Swinging her hips once more she turned, releasing the clip holding her hair out and fell into him, smiling wickedly. "Viella." She whispered to him, standing back up and motioning for him to follow her deeper into the crowd.

From a safe distance Luke stood, talking with Hans and Leia all three watching the scene. There they could clearly see Alantyis shake out her long blonde hair and flirt with Geshna like she had, had one two many drinks from the bar tender. Geshna followed her carefully as she attempted to show him how to dance.

"Are you a professional at this?" Geshna asked Alantyis as a slow song came on and his hands found a place on her small hips. She smiled and tilted her head to look up at him as she wrapped her arms around his neck; he was tall but not as tall as other men in her life he was maybe roughly about 5' 9"…easy enough to take down. "At what?"

"At seducing unexpecting men."

Alantyis smirked, "No, I have to say this is a first." He laughed, "Well, you're doing quite the job." By the way he looked in her eyes she knew she had him hooked…now she just needed to land him. "I'm hot and thirsty," She made a dramatic motion smiling, "care for another drink?"

Geshna smiled, "Will you be joining me?" Alantyis smiled back, "I wouldn't think otherwise." As he turned to head back to the bar she lowered her hand, flattening it out and using the force to call a small orange packet to her. "Bar tender, two drinks please." Geshna signaled the tender as Alantyis seated herself beside him.

The twenty-five year old, brown haired, golden eyed bar tender just looked at them and shot down the drinks. Quickly Alantyis grabbed them before Geshna and without him seeing opened the packet with one hand and released its contents into his drink. "Drink up." She told him as she handed it to him. "You too." He told her and drank the drink as slow as he could, allowing every second to be spent watching the girl before him.

She could tell he wanted in as she finished and her glass fell to the table with a clang. Casually she looked over her shoulder, "It's getting late," She commented and looked at him, "I'm not so sure I want to go home alone….would you be so kind to escort me?" Wetting her lips she flashed him a smile.

"What about your friend." Geshna nodded towards Luke and Alantyis rolled her eyes, "Oh him, don't worry he's nobody." Skillfully she ran her finger around the rim of her glass with care, blue eyes watching him carefully with full invite, biting her lip in a seductive manor as she crossed her legs, short skirt riding up even further, and shifted her weight towards him. "So?" She purred nonchalantly bouncing her bare ankle in the air as she leaned in even closer to him, "You coming back to my place or not?"

Geshna smiled, trying to play hard to get for a few moments, "Well…I don't know…" She sighed and began to turn back to the bar muttering 'oh come on' under her breath. He smiled standing up and crossing to her. "Lead the way." He whispered in her ear.

Noisily she got up, paid for the drinks and gathered her things, "Take my ride?" She offered. When all he did was smile she took it as an agreement and led him to her speeder. A hand-me-down from Master Anakin she had revamped his yellow speeder into a sleeker model more suitable for fast inner city travel. She couldn't complain, it got her from here and there nearly as if she was using light speed itself.

"Here we go." Alantyis commented slipping her identification card into the hotel room. "Forgive me if it seems a bit plain but, I'm not much of a traveler." Geshna looked around the room, feeling oddly groggy; he had the entire ride over. "It's very nice…actually I was hoping I wouldn't be spending much time looking at the room."

Something jumped nervously within her as the door shut without his fingers on it. "Oh." She spoke, keeping her calm sultry façade. "Maybe you're in luck." Every inch of her was crawling, something wasn't right. Turning to walk over to the drink stand she let out a deep breath, she needed to calm. Soon the drug would be potent enough and everything would be revealed. "Care for another drink?" She questioned turning her head back towards him. Gasping she nearly jumped, he was directly behind her. "Of course." He whispered in her ear.

Every part of her told her to run, told her to gather her wits and leave. She should abandon the mission, the force was telling her so but the mission was so important and so much was resting on it. Shaking her head she let all thoughts of doubt clear as she poured another drink.

"Why don't you take your cloak off and relax." Geshna commented sitting on her bed, pulling off his jacket.

_Ha, ha_. She used every once of strength within herself to restrain from laughing out loud. Hidden beneath her cloak was her utility belt, not a chance was that leaving her side. "I'm cold." She muttered turning around. "Really?" He remarked as she handed him his drink. He ran his eyes down her paying attention as something on her hips shone in the light. His eyes narrowed, just what he has suspected. Quickly he shot his hand out and shoved back her cloak on one side. Swearing he stood startling her towards the corner. "You're a jedi." He hissed.

Alantyis' mouth went dry, she hadn't expected this. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Light sabers are nifty little tools, easy to find if you know the right traders, you know." Playing her cards right was her only chance of getting past him. "Oh yes, and an outlander would know these traders?" Geshna accused, eyes nearly flames.

Alantyis smirked, nearly enjoying his temperament. "You aren't aware of my strings as an outlander. I know a lot of people and places and know exactly what I want and where to get it."

"Oh really?" He stepped closer and quickly she stepped back, "Well, I believe you're a Jedi of the new alliance, who else but a scoundrel would try to seduce me and then dare enough to drug me." She was stunned. "I felt the drug the minute it entered my system, luckily though I'm quite good at holding off it's effect." Alantyis didn't speak, what more could she say? He was right, he knew he was right and nothing she said could convince him otherwise. "So, jedi, what did you intend on learning from me? Anything in particular is there anything your alliance is up to we should be aware of?" When she didn't respond he got mad, she could tell it from the way the force was between them. The shift made her breathing hard. "Stupid, weak, under-experienced…" He uttered lashing foreword, immediately she dodged him and shot towards the door. Only when she found the handle burning hot did she retract her hand. "Did they seriously send a Padawan to do a bounty hunters job?" Geshna hissed and Alantyis glared, anger welling inside of her. He smirked, full of pleasure. "So you do have a temper."

The loss of control scared her, immediately she clamped her eyes shut…she had to control it…she had to. _'Stupid, weak, under-experience…'_ the words just echoed through her brain. "Don't fear your anger, anger feeds your power. Anger makes you stronger…or have those dim-witted Jedi Master scum been filling your head with other rubbish?" And that was all it took. She lost it. Her untamed anger boiled over causing walls to dent, bottles to break, windows to shatter and all other unthinkable terror to arise. Shameful but unable to withhold herself she turned, staring at him, "Poor, weak mis-lead man," She mimicked his tone of voice. "I do not fear my anger…I do not feel fear, only frustration upon my part for falling into your foolish, under minded, unintelligent trap." Never dropping his eyes she circled towards him, "See, my friends will be along shortly, along with my Master….this place is surrounded by Jedi."

Geshna smirked and shook his head, "But still you are foolish, this place will no sooner be surrounded by my men as it will be yours. Now, you don't want a fight now do you, Jedi?" Everything in the room dropped, breathing hard Alantyis tried to regulate herself, Master Anakin was probably having a fit right now. He probably knew she'd lost her temper and was winging out about how she should have learned to control such an element by now. "What is it you desire?" She hissed.

From his pocket Geshna slipped a glass serum, "Just to know all of your secrets, Lady Jedi." He waved the serum in his hand, "Please, don't make it any harder on yourself than it needs to be." With that he darted foreword, believing he could surprise her. But she was one step ahead of him quickly she ran, nearly looking invisibly as she did it so fast, over to the opposite end of the room. "If you think I'm going to tell you anything, you must truly be stupid." She hissed.

Alantyis knew better than threaten the man, he probably knew far better than she did about how to control the force. But she was far too much like her Master, daring and at times as naive as ever. That's how she didn't see it coming. A man, cloaked in black, crashed through the only window still in tacked. Immediately she turned whipping out her light saber and spinning it consecutively in a fast turn of her wrist over and over again. Consistently she blocked blaster shots which were now causing her to back towards the doorway. Something inside her tightened and she turned quickly, ignoring the shots.

Geshna reached foreword grabbing her upper arm in his large rough hand and then holding her still with the force. He allowed her to stay there, blaster shots grazing her arms and legs. "Now," He snarled, "are you going to tell us or do we have to force it out of you more?"

_Torture_. Of course, what better way for the other side to get information? _Ha_. She laughed on the inside, no matter how much pain they instilled upon her the information locked within her would stay within her. Even if her death became a sacrifice. Slowly she locked eyes with him. "You underestimate me." She hissed, turned her head, loose hand and arm following her and then shot both forewords. With the motion both men were flown across the room in different directions, Geshna into the door and the other out the window.

Panting Alantyis ripped off her cloak, it was tying her down. She looked towards the window, killing was not in her job protocol but she hadn't seen any way around it. "Forgive me." She whispered a loud and turned to Geshna, once again turning on her light saber. "If you have any weapons, drop them now. I'm not allowed to kill you when you are unarmed."

Geshna didn't move, he was lying limp on the ground by the door slumped over. Quietly, all senses on alert she crept foreword, every part of her body was tense and she was sure she'd need to find medical attention but she couldn't let Geshna get away. He may have had information important to their cause. Turning off her light saber she bent down. "Geshna."

And then he lurched foreword, grabbing her and throwing her light saber across the room. The serum had broken in the throw but at least he could still grab her. The Sith would be proud. She struggled so hard but he reached into his pocket taking out something and forcing it onto her throat.

Suddenly Alantyis couldn't breathe, it seemed like all life was swept from her body. The connection to her Master and those dear to her contracted and dissipated. Terror, pure and utter terror filled her. Never in her life had she ever felt this way. The force was completely nonexistent within her and around her. "My employer will be most pleased with your arrest. You are a enemy to the rebellion, and therefore you must be taken to the highest source for ruling. With your luck, your death won't be that long and drawn out." There was nothing she could respond to. He was far stronger than her at the moment and she needed time to think before she could escape….only how much time did she truly have? "Geshna." Some said rushing in threw a hidden entrance, "let's go—we've got company on the way."

Geshna looked down at Alantyis, grabbed something shaking his head and swung hard. His dark face was the last thing she saw before pain filled her body and her world went black.

* * *

The young man shot them down their drinks, eyeing the couple sitting down. Jealousy was ravaging through him like a raging fire. He hated when she took on such missions, she never thought of her safety or in fact how far was too far…no…she just focused on what they needed. She drove him insane, and he loved her for it. Still, he couldn't help but worry as he stood there, cleaning glasses and watching from a distance. The guy looked far too pleased and there was something else, something he just couldn't place…he didn't like him and it wasn't just jealousy.

_Breathe_; he could hear Master Yoda's voice;_ release all feelings of discomfort, anger, jealousy, and unease from your aura. Be at peace_. He heaved a sigh and looked away, if he looked longer at the two he might be driven mad himself

It was not long before he heard Alantyis get up and leave with the other man. His eyes followed their backs, he wanted to follow, something wasn't right but instead he just took their glasses and began washing them. It wasn't until she didn't return immediately that he began to worry, it was late but the club was still heavily packed and they were under staffed. "Hey, Jidih," He said absently, suddenly feeling panicked by Alantyis' absence. "I'm taking an early day." With that he placed his things on the bar and jumped over it and onto the other side clicking his fingers to alert the others of his departure.

"Cryont boy! Get back here-you still have work to do!" The elder bar tender yelled after him and Cryont barely turned his head back as he flew out the door, grabbing his things and being closely followed by his other friends, "Later, Jidih, later."

"She hasn't come back." Cryont told Luke, slipping into his speeder, gripping his wheel so tight his knuckles turned white, "And I can't feel her anymore."

"Can't feel her?" Leia asked slipping in behind him.

"The force, there's a shift in it…. A drastic one….it only happens when somethings occured" Luke said wearily and sat beside him, "let's move, fast." Cryont laughed awkwardly, "Don't have to ask me twice, hold on."

* * *

Never in his life had Cryont felt so much panic as when he went to open Alantyis' door only to find it was not locked. He never should have let her go alone….he knew that and when he walked into the room, only to find it empty and dishelved guilt raged through him.

The one thing he loved in this universe more than life itself was in danger because he hadn't followed his senses.

He _had_ to find her before anyone got hurt.

He_ had_ to find her before time ran out.

…

_Before the Sith got to her._

_tbc..._


	3. Against the Odds

Anakin stood in the middle of the decimated small hotel room rented under his apprentice's alias. He and Master Yoda had been the first two Jedi's of the Old Order on scene after Luke had informed them that she had gone missing. Cryont had been pacing the length of the room trying to figure out how the tragedy had been able to occur when they arrived; his emotions clouding all other rational thought, preventing him from remember procedure – forcing him to forget to call the Masters himself. They had all followed procedure together once the two elders arrive, looking over the room carefully and not saying a word. It was a process of accepting the fate that had consumed her. Now, though, having sent away the distraught boy to the main desk for cleaning droids, it took everything within the girl's Jedi Master to keep from showing any inner emotion upon his face. He should have known better than to send her in alone; she was a good Jedi, but not that good. She was still in training; she was still a Padawan in the Master's eyes and now, because he hadn't been thoughtful, she was gone. He could no longer feel her powerful presence in the force which could only mean one thing; she was lost..._forever_.

"Perhaps we were all wrong," Anakin turned his head to look down at the shadowed blue form of Master Yoda standing beside him, "maybe she wasn't what we all so stubbornly thought she was." He sighed deeply, an odd chill running down his back. His eyes fell, defeated, and he looked back at the broken window across from them. It was shattered beyond repair, shards of varying sizes layering the room. If it hadn't been for residue the shattered window had left strewn about the room, there would have been no evidence of an outside attacker. The Master's arms folded under his cloak, his breath weighted with an odd form of grief. "It's my entire fault, Master Yoda, I should have known better than to let her go into this alone. She hasn't even taken the trials yet."

Beside the younger Master, Yoda shook his head slowly from side-to-side. "Your fault it is not, know what would happen you could not of unless foreseen." His eyes temporarily glanced up at the younger man, who was known for his premonitions. "Taken upon her own life in her hands Kenobi did." Nodding, as if reassuring himself of the words he spoke, the frail man looked up at Anakin who still seemed puzzled, "Problem you have?"

"I don't know." Anakin spoke earnestly, moving from where he stood to look at the portable bar. In the fight between his apprentice and her captor it had been tossed to the side, pulverized to the point of denting and breaking, but some parts of it still remained intact. Bending down he fingered the flawless silver on one of the broken cups, examining their reflections in the dented silver with care. "Something just is not right, Master Yoda. Obi-Wan had so much faith in her, the same that Master Jinn had in me. How could his faith have been misplaced? She is not care-less, Master Yoda, you know her. Perhaps she can be stubborn, and I know that more often than not she prefers to test the rules instead of obediently following them, but she is not careless and she certainly is not stupid – never would she do anything that would purposely endanger her life. She's talented… you've seen it - you have watched her practice." The girl's Master trailed off, rubbing his forehead and closing his eyes. He had his brow so knitted in thought that he was slowly and quite prominently developing a headache - his locked jaw didn't help much either.

"Think she is dead, you do not?"

Master Yoda's question gave the man reason to pause. _'Think she is dead, you do not?'_ He shifted, unsure. Never had Anakin felt so confused about a matter surrounding his apprentice, he knew that he should know where his feelings lay. Not feeling her presence in the force should be enough for him, he knew that, he shouldn't be analyzing the issue like a conspiracy. He should be able to live with the fact that he couldn't feel her anymore; he couldn't feel his Padawan so she was dead, gone, passed on into the force just like her mother and father before her. However,_ this_ was different. This was Alantyis Kenobi. _This_ was Obi-wan's daughter; Amaid's daughter. There was something special about her; she was gifted beyond compare. She knew things without meaning to, without having much doubt in her thought, and she was trained well beyond most Padawans. Why then, had she fallen so easily to death? How had she simply been tricked into a death trap without having a clue? Nothing added up. "I honestly do not know, Master Yoda, there's just something not right with this whole situation and it makes me uneasy."

"Learned to trust your feelings you have." Yoda mused, his form moving to walk towards the former traitor. He paused a few feet from Anakin, listening as there was a small cracking sound from the entry door frame. Over his shoulder he looked to meet the eyes of his own former apprentice; Cryont. Many years Yoda had spent training the young boy, sometimes on his home in the Dagobah system, and others at the new headquarters that the Jedi had built. He had been forced to put him through the trials early – because of his failing health – and make him a probationary Master, something similar to what they had done with this cousin. The difference with this situation was that the Masters collectively had a lot more respect for Cryont than they had once had for his cousin at the time of his initiation. Turning from his former apprentice he looked back at Anakin, "Meditate you will, Master Skywalker. Sort out your feelings you will. Decide which fate has consumed your young Padawan, you shall."

"Which fate?" Cryont repeated breathlessly from the doorway. Since he had faced the horrible reality that she was missing, he had forced himself to throw so many disastrous thoughts from his head; thoughts that made his gut turn. He could not feel her presence in the force, that he knew, and neither could the Masters. Knowing that all just worried him more, he knew how strong her presence had always been and how well they should all have been able to sense her. His eyes moved quickly, like lasers, between the two men before him, analyzing the density of the force around them. Before either of them spoke, he could guess what Master Yoda was going to tell him and, because of it, he braced his knees, planting feet firmly into the floor.

"Dead young Kenobi may be, prepare to move on you should."

_Dead?_ Despite how he had anticipated the words that his former Master spoke, it did little to prepare him for hearing them spoken aloud. He let out a shaky breath and nodded, overcome with waves of emotions as he watched the compact form his former master hobble its way towards him. Suddenly, the young man felt cold and numb all over. He felt detached and distanced from the rest of the world, like he was seeing everything through tunneled vision from afar and he had to lean on the doorway just to keep himself upright. _I should have gone with her,_ he thought, panic rising inside of him. _I should have made her stay. If I had just made her stay_… "Good day master." He uttered to Master Yoda as he passed him on his way out the door; the powerful master, who was half in thought and half analyzing the young man, barely nodded. There was no doubt in Cryont's mind that he was headed towards the Jedi's safe haven in Anta de Morta to discuss the latest events with the other Masters. They would _not _be pleased.

Even after his Master had passed him, the young man did not move. He stayed, frozen in place, watching the rest of the room in bitter silence. The possibility that the girl he loved - right, wrong or otherwise - was dead was eating him from the inside out but the thought that it had been his silence that could have caused it, and his neglect, completely obliterated him. "Tell me what happened." Anakin spoke abruptly, shaking him from his thoughts. The elder of the two cousins rose in one fluent motion, and turned to face him, an odd fire alight in his eyes.

"What happened?" The younger man croaked through his suddenly dry throat.

"From the beginning, my cousin," Anakin told him forcefully, attempting to sound encouraging, "I want every word of how this operation went down." Pausing, he realized how unorthodox his demand sounded and quickly countered his request with an explanation. "If I'm going to meditate I need to know the facts of what I am dealing with. I need to know how things were supposed to happen versus how they actually occurred – it may well be the only way that I find her," The older man stopped, his teeth clenched together either through pain or anger, "_killer_."

Cryont's eyes narrowed skeptically as he_ truly_ looked at his cousin from his position in the doorway. He knew otherwise, he had spent too long with Master Yoda not to know the standard necessities for meditating on a situation to find a culprit. His cousin was analyzing the situation from two different angles; how that would work the young man wasn't entirely sure. It wasn't normal procedure to get the 'facts' before meditating…it could cloud judgment. "Master Yoda wouldn't-"

"He doesn't need to know." Anakin cut off his cousin before he could finish and looked him squarely in the eye. The fire that the younger man had seen in his eyes only seconds before had not dimmed behind his blue eyes yet but rather melted into his thoughtful expression. Unfolding his arms he moved closer to Cryont so that they were within a foot of one another. When he spoke his voice was dangerously serious, his tone urgent. "If Alantyis _is _alive this may well be the only way she stays so."

Cryont felt his heart skip a beat, jumping part way into his throat at the realization that he wasn't the only one holding onto a very fine thread of hope. Locking eyes with his elder cousin, he nodded, filled with a renewed sense of duty. "There's not much to tell, Master Skywalker; I was at the bar most of the time." He paced slightly, walking around his cousin to look at the broken window, reminding himself to refer to the elder man by his formal title. Somewhere beyond the skyscraper before them was the club Alantyis had been in only a few hours before. From where they stood, if Cryont stretched out one of his arms to full length, he could enclose his hand around the tip of the skyscraper – though he really had no hold on it – it looked so close, despite how far away it was, and it made his heart ache. _She never should have gone this far away from us without back up_. "She came into the club with Luke - just as we had all planned out before hand. She left her weaponry on the hanger underneath the jackets so that it would not be seen but so that it was easy to access when she left. After Luke wandered off into crowd, just as he was supposed to, she spotted her man almost immediately. He was sitting at the bar, not far off from where I was tending and had been there for about thirty minutes – I had already given him one drink. He must have been the operative that you and the other masters told her about because of the look she had in her eyes when she spotted him, locking her eyes on him like he was some sort of prey. She was really determined, you know how she gets with these missions, acting like her life depends on them. She wasted no time in coming over to the bar to meet him, seeming like any other flirtatious girl there. They talked, they drank, they danced, she seduced him and she drugged him and then, as far as we all knew, she brought him back here to interrogate him and await further assistance." The word '_seduced_' found a hard time rolling off of his tongue but he did his best to shrug it off, forcing it from his mouth, and turned to look over his shoulder at Anakin. "It all seemed to go perfectly…"

"_However_?"

"_However_," Cryont began, folding his arms under his robes and shaking his head. "I am over protective of her –_ far_ too much for my own good - and have had difficulty with this plan from the beginning." It was true. He and Alantyis were not the usual couple to fight constantly, although they could but heads quite well if they desired to, but they usually attempted to avoid heated debates at all costs. They were both as stubborn as the Sith himself, quick tempered and sharp tongued – too well versed in the languages they had been taught in school. When they did fight, things got nasty quickly if one of them – or both of them – didn't bit their tongue and hold back their overwhelming negative aura. However, despite how nasty they got towards one another, things usually cleared up rather quickly. This time around, when it had come to this assignment, there had been no end to the heated discussions on whether or not she should do it and, most importantly, the matter of her safety. She thought he was being over protective, "molly coddling" she called it, and despised it. She wasn't, as she put it "a lady made to sit back and watch the men handle the aggressive negotiations. She was a fighter". Just that morning she had left the temple without saying a word to him, still mad from a fight the previous night and doing everything she could to make sure that her aura and her body language screamed to him how mad she was. Anakin, though, seemed keen on trusting the feelings that Cryont had at that moment which made him wonder if his concerns were not completely misplaced.

The elder of the two cousins drew his lips into a thin line and swallowed thickly. Surrounding him, the force shifted oddly, shielding his intentions from view. He nodded, slowly, and wet his lips, "Trust your feelings, Cryont."

The young man sighed deeply, for some reason uncomfortable with having this conversation. Maybe it was the fact the he felt like he was over ruling Alantyis' judgment or, perhaps, he was uncomfortable with his cousin knowing how deeply he felt for his apprentice, he wasn't entirely sure. However, if it helped bring her back safely – if she was alive, that was – then he could deal with the uncomfortable feelings there were plaguing him. "I wasn't comfortable with any of it from the start. I just had this bad feeling — you know? And I made that quite clear, though I guess you already know that; Alantyis, I am sure, complained to you about that without end….." He stretched his neck to one side and closed his eyes, remembering when he had seen the two people sitting together at the bar. Even though Alantyis' flirtation had been staged he _knew_ that the man's interest hadn't been, he could clearly tell, and that rubbed him the wrong way. Just thinking about it, after so many hours had passed, catalyzed jealousy inside of his core so hot that it made him see red, he had to take in a deep breath just to dissipate the overwhelming color."When she left the bar and didn't come back, I knew something bad happened. It had all gone so well when she was at the bar – the conversation, the seduction, the drugs - everything. From what I could tell, especially from the force around him, he didn't have a clue of what was going on…he was too interested in _other _things." The young man clenched his jaw and added, hatefully, "He even seemed _interested_, you know? So I figured that, if something had gone wrong, it had to have happened at the hotel. That's when I flew out of the bar and came here…. I suddenly realized that I couldn't feel her and that I hadn't been able to for some time. I honestly don't know what happened or why I did not realize her missing presence earlier. It was my responsibility to keep an eye on her mentally and physically through the force, and I lost my concentration somewhere along the line." Internally, he knew what had distracted him, between the way Alantyis had tossed her hair and seductively positioned herself had caused his eyes to wander and to stop, and how seeing the man seated before her enjoying his view more than he should have had made his blood boil. He had been distracted by his feelings for her, and that had put her in this predicament. _He _had put her there, he knew it, and it was eating him alive. " Next thing I knew I was panicking…I tried to keep calm, if but for a split second, but it was impossible. I know I shouldn't have, Anakin, but I couldn't help but panic. I had no control over myself. That is no excuse, I know, I am a Jedi and I should have full control over myself, my reactions and my emotions, but my head was spinning and all I could think of was Alantyis climbing into a speeder with that _creep_…"

Anakin looked thoughtful, but said nothing. His eyes swept up and down Cryont's face several times as he spoke, picking up on the unspoken words left out in every hesitation. When it came to being a Jedi, the boy was the best; he was patient and skilled, and - most of all - determinated but when it came to Alantyis, all of his training came undone. His judgment skewed and everything he had ever been taught seemed to vanish from his brain. The Master couldn't deny that such a fact disturbed him, but, that was a road that had been travelled one too many times and, at the moment, there were more pressing issues at hand. The older man made his way towards the door, his hand resting on his chin, eyes distant. "You may not have been the one panicking after all…" He said escaping from his lapse of silence. The words appeared to perplex his cousin, creating creases on the young man's forehead from where his brow knit together. Thoughtfully, Anakin rubbed his chin, "I'm going to mediate…." Without leaving any room for conversation and without saying any other words, he disappeared behind the broken doorway.

Finally alone in the hotel room Cryont sat on the floor. The young man crossed his legs, and placed his forehead in his hands. His body felt like a lead weight as it hit the ground beneath him, and he felt emotionally drained – perhaps even lifeless. Inside, he was not only attacking himself for every error he had made during the mission that had come to endanger the one he loved; he was aching also. There was an excruciating ache inside his heart and his stomach, reminding him how he had failed the Jedi Council, how he had not only failed but endangered the one person he loved more than anything in the Universe and that, because of it all, her life might end up being the ultimate price. The thought of this caused his mind to slip back to the possibility of her death, a possibility that ripped him apart and a possibility that was looking all the more likely with every passing moment. "Oh force, don't let it be true." He pleaded and closed his eyes, half in meditation, and half in anguish. "She's _the one_…she's not supposed to die. She can't," Below his voice, in some tone softer and more pained than a whisper, he uttered, "_I cannot bare it."_

* * *

Without turning on the light Anakin walked into his room in the Jedi safe-haven with heavy footsteps. The light of the moon and stars were enough to illuminate the darkest corners of the confined space without the overhead lamps. Solemnly he stared at the bed adjacent to his; it was only twin sized but, despite that fact, it had never been properly made before training that morning. Normally, at that time of night, the mess of sheets should have held his young apprentice. She would have been half asleep with a text book beginning to fall from out of her limp hands and onto the floor. If he didn't grab the text from the hand resting on her stomach before it fell the sound would surely wake her up. She had always had her mother's ability to be a light sleeper, even when she was a baby. Alantyis wasn't there, however, and her bed was empty, the text book placed on the tile beside the foot of the bed. Only those surrounding her in the force knew where she really was, and if she was even alive.

His eyes swooped from her bed to her bedside table and rested there. Placed on her wooden bedside table were two pictures; one was of her mother and the other was of a younger Obi-Wan and a small girl with blond hair and the brightest blue eyes he could imagine. Moving swiftly across the tile he picked up the picture of his former Master and his apprentice, cradling the frame in his hands. Without meaning to he found himself falling back onto her bed staring into those bright blue eyes….

"_Daddy!" _

_Obi-wan looked over the kitchen counter to see Alantyis playing with the few flowers still alive in the vase on their kitchen table. "Yes?"_

"_They're piddy," She told him, looking so much more amused by the gentle curvature of one single petal on the flowers than by all the toys laid out in front of her._

"_It's __**pretty**__, Alantyis." He corrected her lovingly as he moved from the kitchen sink to the table. Sitting down next to her, he moved a few stray strands of blond hair behind her small ears. "And yes, they are __**very **__pretty." He slowly fingered the flowers; part of what was left of his wife's memory. Swallowing thickly he tried his best not to look sorrowful; that wouldn't help his daughter any._

"_Mommy likes flowers." _

_He turned from the purple flowers to look at his daughter, half surprised at Alantyis' mention of her mother and half disturbed by the fact that she used her in the present tense. She was too young to understand all that had happened in the past few years, too young to understand the pain. As it was, she barely could comprehend why her mother was never there to wake her in the morning. "Yes, Alantyis, she did." He watched as she smiled, giggling and reaching out to touch the flower. The way joy illuminated her face by such a simple object, caused him to smile softly to himself. The act was partially filled with joy and, at the same time, partially solemn. She was so much like her mother. Leaning over he kissed her head before standing. "Eat up little one."_

_Three quick raps on the door to alert them of his presence, that's all he did and he didn't even remember them being that loud. He held so much guilt inside him still, the one emotion that nearly overpowered all of the others he felt…and there were so many emotions. Too many withheld thoughts and far too many hidden emotions than comprehendible flooded his mind has he stood there before Obi-Wan's door like he was awaiting his judgment day. There were too many bitter memories._

'_**Don't try it, Anakin-it won't work." Obi-Wan warned him but he didn't listen the words 'I have the higher ground' still whirled in his head. So he jumped with the intentions of landing on the ridge above his once beloved Master, but misjudged the landing and landed to the side of Obi-wan leaving neither Jedi with the higher ground."We choose opposing sides then." He stated and turned, walking away towards the former Chancellor Palpatine's star ship…..**_

_He had lived in such a haze that he had failed to realize that in the midst of his anger he had killed not one, but two of the people in the universe that loved him. In the midst of his anger with Padme he had strangled her and Ami…she had come running from the ship to stop it. Looking back on it now, he doubted that she had informed Obi-Wan that she had come with Padme because she knew he would have refused. Amaid had tried using the force to stop Anakin, and when that didn't work, she even tried reasoning with him, begging him to stop, but it only made him mad. And then Obi-Wan had come out, he had been worried about Padme and, Anakin assumed, scared for the fact that his wife had come out. It had been when his former Master had talked to him that he lost it. He dropped Padme and, amidst his anger, stabbed Amaid. It took him so long to realize what he'd done and how much he'd truly hurt both his friend and himself. By the time he had come around, anchoring himself back into reality, the damage was done and could not be reversed. _

_The door swung open before Anakin had been given the chance to exit his thoughts. Slowly he raised his clouded blue eyes to look at Obi-Wan and the two stared at one another; Obi-Wan's hand was wrapped firmly around the handle of his light saber. "What are you doing here?" He demanded, shutting the door so that he was wedged in between it and the wall, blocking all else from view._

_Anakin found it hard to speak, he didn't know what to say or how to say it. How could he ever apologize for all he'd ever done? How did you apologize for taking the love of someone's life away from them and then walking away like you never even cared? "Anakin!" Alantyis' small voice exclaimed as she struggled to climb down from her seat at the table._

"_Alantyis stay there-" Obi-wan warned, forgetting to wedge himself and turning to look at her, he had hoped that the tone of his voice would have been enough to make her pause, but her parents stubborn nature had not been missed in the making of her genetics. She found her way out in no time, plopping to the floor on her knees without ever releasing a tear and ran, full bore, past her father towards the other man, "ALANTYIS!" Her father yelled, snatching for her, but she clearly ignored him and purposely dogged him._

"_ANAKIN!" Her small arms wrapped about the man's leg happily. A broad smile was plastered on her face, her eyes, which were bright and blue, sparkled wickedly as they looked up at him._

_Swoosh!_

_Like that Obi had captured her in his arm, holding her firmly and kissing her head. One of his callused hands craddled the back of her head, pulling it down into the nape of his neck like, if she was positioned there, no harm could come to her. His heart was pounding in his chest and Anakin could see the panic in his former Master's eyes at the possibility of the loss of his young daughter. "What was that for?" Alantyis demanded unexpectedly, shocking both men, "I was just saying hi to Anakin." She continued to explain innocently, not at all bothered or afraid of the man whom her father was ready to strike down should he move to hurt them. Obi-wan's mouth went dry and he developed the sudden need to wet his lips. "Anakin's __**nice**__." She explained further and looked at Anakin. An inquisitorial look crossed her face, her blue eyes seeming to read right through him, "I forgive you, Anakin."_

_Both men had looked at her, as if a child of such a young age should not have been able to comprehend the amount of emotion in the situation that had now been aroused. She had been just a mere child when her mother had been killed, a babe still. Anakin's lips parted and he blinked, looking as if someone had punched him in the stomach but Obi-Wan looked far worse. His face had paled and all breath had temporarily left him, his eyes, too, had softened. Taking in what he had attempted to make as a steady breath, he had looked at his daughter. Below his voice, in a pain tone, he had whispered to her 'forgive him for what?' What she said next made the hand on his saber waver despite its firm grip and his breath hitch. "Mommy forgives 'im….so I forgive 'im too." _

_Anakin would never forget the way she turned her round blue eyes on her father, he wasn't sure if she knew what she was doing or not but she looked right at him, lip pouted just so and said, "You want to make mommy happy don't you, daddy?"_

_And like that Anakin was forgiven. _

It had taken some time to build full trust back between Obi-Wan and Anakin, but all of it had only been because of Alantyis. If she hadn't been there that day, if she hadn't said that, Anakin was not entirely sure that Obi-Wan wouldn't have broken the code and killed him. It was not like his former Master had been above flaw, he too had married against the code and he had also partially killed Darth Maul out of anger resulting from Qui-Gon's death. If Alantyis hadn't been there, or if Anakin had made a move that his former Master had seen threatening, there was the possibility the things may have ended differently. But she had been there, and as she had continued to grow she had continued to force the men closer and closer together until, by force and by what love they still had for each other, they had rebounded as brothers. Anakin closed his eyes, fingers wrapping tightly around the picture of the young girl. "Speak to me Alantyis," he begged out loud, "_tell me you're fate_."

* * *

"_Tell me again, father, why must we continue to live in this sand infested planet?"Alantyis, who sat outside of their cave dwelling, stuck her hands into the fine grit. To any other person, the sand may have felt soft and smooth against their skin, especially with the warmth it was collecting from the growing sun. To Alantyis, however, the fancified dirt was nowhere near comparable to bliss. For a few weeks the sand had been fun and entertaining and, on occasion, she still even liked the feel of it beneath her feet but, for the most part, she hated it. It was rough and coarse against her skin, sand storms wrecked beautiful days and the wind, filled with sand, felt like a whip against her body. The sun was too hot, and there wasn't a grassy patch of land, or a flower, in sight. The only remotely wondrous thing about the sand was that, when she cupped it in her hand and allowed it to drizzle through the spaces, she was reminded of her mother. There was little that she could remember of her mother, and as the years passed more and more of her memories became hazy, but sometimes, if she was lucky, things would jog what little memories she had. _

_The sand reminded her of rolling emerald green hills__, sweet smelling flowers and sandy beaches lined with vast seas. There was one memory, in particular that held the hills and flowers as a background, the beach as the land beneath her feet and the ocean as the future ahead of her. Her mother had held her in her lap, her long slender fingers tracing lines along the babe's arms. Obi-Wan had been gone for a few weeks on a mission for the council, and Amaid had been concerned that the young child may forget her father in that time so, using every breath she could manage, she spoke to Alantyis about the Jedi that she loved. She spoke about his handsome looks that even now made her blush, though she did not go into in-depth detail, and about the kind hearted spirit he had, the determination and character he possessed, along with an inhuman charisma. But, most of all, she talked about his own love for life and adventure, his tendency to do what his heart led him to and how much he loved them both. She said the he called them his D'ila, the most beautiful and precious flowers that grew wild on her home planet. 'He could even be spontaneous sometimes,' her mother had whispered in Alantyis' ear while they played in the sand, and she told her that those times were when she loved him the most. While her mother spoke, she dragged their hands softly through the fine grained sand. The warmth was calming, it was not harsh but soothing, like the hug of a loved one. Amaid had scooped a handful of sand into her hands and placed it in the chubby hands of her daughter, smiling at the child's giggles as the sand quickly slid through all of the spaces. 'Your father and I, are often like the ocean and the land, Alantyis," she said in her velvet voice, 'We are synonymous. One without the other just does not feel right. You cannot sit out in the sand and stare at a vast abyss; it is just not as magical as the sight of the ocean. And you certainly cannot travel the ocean without coming to land, and what fun would the ocean be without the ability to make sand castles? Hmm? True, we've had our turmoil – our stormy weather, I suppose is a good analogy – and we have gone some many years without contact in the past, but we are meant for one another. We are destined….we always come back to one another, your father and I, like waves crashing into the beach. They have to collide someday, its fate.'_

_Alantyis had yet to see that so called spontaneous side of her father that her mother had once spoken so fondly of, but she had seen his determination reflected through the rigorous study program he had placed her under. She sighed again and drew a few nonsensical lines in the sand, reflecting back on her mother's words about staring out from sand at a vast abyss. Her mother had been right, it didn't feel right. Sitting there, the young girl had to squint her eyes against the bright sun to do so, but she could see mountains after mountains filled with sand ledges and sand filled valleys. There was no escaping the hot, gritty mess. _

_The sound of ruffling papers and clanging metal temporarily paused inside the dark home the father and daughter shared. There was silence, heavy and thick, where the older, worn man stared out the make-shift home's door from his seat in the right hand corner of the room – he enjoyed it there at the moment because it was darkest and therefore easiest to clear his mind in. His daughter's back, covered in a sheet of blonde hair that was being tousled by the wind, faced him while she looked outward towards some unseen hope. She didn't complain often, only when the times seemed unbearable, but he knew that she was not fond of Tatooine without her having to articulate her feelings. "Because, Alantyis, Luke needs us."_

"_No he doesn't." His daughter muttered under her breath._

_Softly, almost solemnly, Obi-Wan smiled. "Now, Alantyis, you know better. Anakin cannot come to Luke, the Sith Lord would find them both and destroy them. It is our responsibility to keep an eye on Luke for Anakin, so that he knows that his son is safe. It is the least we can do in this situation." Frowning slightly, pulling his lips into a taught line, his eyes hardened. "Besides, dear, it is safest for you too."_

_Safest, sure – that was always the main objection. The teen snorted and pulled one of her legs up to her chest so that she could wrap her arms around its knee. She remembered clearly the kidnap attempts that had occurred on her mother's home planet. They had usually been carried out when her father had been away in Tatooine keeping an eye on Luke. While he was doing that, she was being watched by a Nanny. But, with every attempt that was followed through, the terrorists had gotten closer and closer to actually capturing Alantyis so her Master had begun staying with her – though her father had already begun thinking of a way to get her away from the planet causing the chaos. She didn't want to go, though. Anakin stayed for six months, trying to make the situation work so that she wouldn't have to leave, but, in the seventh month, the terrorists succeeded in their attempts and took her right from beneath everyone's noses. For two and a half years her well-being had been dictated by those on the Dark Side of the force until her father was finally able to get her back. She only got to see her homeland once, briefly, before her father packed them up and shipped them to the almighty land of deserts away from all that she had ever known - her home, her friends and even her Master. Most of all, though, she felt as if she had been ripped from her mother. _

_The force filling the air near the young girl shifted and stirred, snapping her from her thoughts and warning her of an incoming presence. She turned her head to her right, to where the shift had occurred, finding her father settling himself down beside her on the ledge. He didn't speak as he maneuvered himself into a comfortable position, except for the one time he made a remark about not being as limber as he once was. Over the years, Alantyis had learned that her father was a man of few, but meaningful, words. He didn't speak just to fill air space, unlike most people, he listened and learned from the silences and only spoke when the time – and the words – felt right. It was because of this that their silence lingered. Her fingers drew non-objective designs in the sand to her left while she rested her cheek lazily on her propped up knee, she attempted to act like the feeling of the sand was soothing; but the scorching earth was everything but. She closed her eyes and attempted to think of something, anything, else than the thoughts that had been occupying her mind earlier. "I want to go home, dad." She whispered finally, the words came out sounding pained, as if all of her desperation had gone into that one line. "I miss home," her lip quivered as she sifted granules of sand through her fingers and she added, "and I miss mom. I feel like we're neglecting her."_

_Alantyis was glad that her head was turned away from her father so that she would not see him wince. The mere mention of her mother brought him pain; he never cried but the solemn looks and winces were always clear indications. He had moved on, she supposed, and lived a good life, but she doubted anyone every truly got over something like that. Obi-Wan sighed, rubbing his eyes, wishing that Amaid was there. Of course, had she been there, they never would have been in this predicament; she would be putting her foot down and sending both she and Alantyis – and he too, if she could convince him – back to her home every weekend. He wouldn't have liked it, but he would have let her – he knew that she was more than capable of handling herself. Why then, was he so terrified of allowing his daughter to do the same? He just couldn't let her; he couldn't risk losing the only bit of Amaid he had left. He couldn't risk losing his most cherished and beloved "possession". He wouldn't. "I understand how you feel, Alantyis." He spoke after a prolonged silence, his eyes were closed and his hands had found their way into the sand. He would never admit it, but the sand there was nothing like the sand he had once laid on with his wife, This sand was rougher, and hotter, not elegant, soft and warm like the other. "But this is our home now, I've told you this. It is all for the greater good."_

_Turning her head, lifting it from her knee, she looked at him defensively. "You cannot convince me that you are happy here. I won't believe it. I know otherwise. And mom, what would she think of that? What would it do to her knowing that you were unhappy - she would want you happy."_

"_Alantyis."_

"_Dad-"_

"_Just a little while longer, Alantyis, I promise." Obi-Wan turned worn blue eyes upon his daughter, part of him was looking wearier these days. Allowing himself to feel the gentle swishing of sand streaming through his fingers as he took his hands from the sand he frowned. Extending his hand towards her face he gently caressed her cheek like a mother would a baby. His fingers were rough against Alantyis' skin as he ran them down her face, allowing them to linger only briefly to tuck a few blonde stands behind her ears. Sitting there, in silence only disturbed by the whirling of wind and sand, he looked at his daughter – truly looked at her. She was wise beyond her years, cunning (and mischievous), loving and determined, optimistic and realistic, and stubborn and naive. The aura radiating from her screamed that she did not belong in an endless desert, no matter how much mental trickery she tried to use on it, or how good of friends she and Luke might ever become should he ever know of her existence, that fact would never change. She didn't fit. Living in the endless sand dune was slowly killing her inside and it killed him to watch, but it needed to be done. "I won't risk losing you again, not now." Meeting her bright blue eyes he attempted to hold her gaze despite how many times she tried to look away. "Just wait a little while longer, alright? Soon, very soon we will go back to mom's planet."_

"Our _planet."_

_Obi-Wan smiled, endearingly and then drew his daughter into his arms. Her head rested on his robed chest and his chin rested upon her head while his arms wrapped around her. He kissed her head, thanking the heavens again for having such a gift like her, and then stared out across the horizon at the rising sun. His breath was heavy with memory as he watched the light in the sky fade, images of late starlit nights and two young people stretched out beneath the stars – both equally in love with the other- flashing in and out of his mind. Closing his eyes he savored the memories of angelic laughter and captivating smiles that had been thrown to him by an elusive and, at times, charmingly difficult Senator. It had always been her worst moments that made him love her most. In the midst of reminiscing the Jedi Master's heart gave a sharp twang. "I miss her too, Alantyis."_

The memory filled dream distilled to darkness very rapidly by the end and then dissipated altogether. The darkness encasing her was replaced by a white haze and splitting pain. She went to breathe but found the feeling impossible, the more she gasped the worse her feeling of constriction became. Her lungs refused to expand as she shoved them with the arching of her back towards the surface of her rib cage, and no air leaked through her lips to her wind pipes; she was constricted around the neck. Sputtering, choking on the lack of air, she gasped continuously for a breath that would not come Instinctively she shot her hands up to her neck and felt around it until she gripped unto a thin, flashing, metal device strapped about its slender form. The temporary consciousness she had gained only seconds before waned with the lack of breath and she found herself becoming increasingly dizzy at a frighteningly fast rate. Quickly she stood, shoving herself from the cot she laid on with what strength and stability she had, and jutted her hand down to her hips.

_Gone._

All of her artillery that she had worn in the hotel room was gone, vanished. Without her artillery, and still panicking to find breath, she reached within her shirt. Her consciousness was fluctuating as she felt beneath her undergarments for her father's laser knife that she always kept hidden there, her mind switching between being focused and fighting blacking out. Her father had given the knife to her for tight binds in Tatooine that she was always getting into – she had quite the habit of getting into fights - but she had found out quickly during training that it came in just as handy on Jedi missions as well. Extracting the laser pocket knife from its concealed compartment she sliced the device from her neck. It fell to the ground with a hollow bang surprising for its small compact size.

The cool air rushed into her lungs as she collapsed to her knees, head cradled in her hands as pain raged through her and the fear subsided. As she gasped for breath the sensation of air filling her lungs was both comforting and painful. With every breath she took she ached, and fire from her injuries, which had not been tended to, burned. "For the love of the Gods…" She moaned to herself, clearing her thoughts as she reached from her compacted state to tenderly grasp the device which had constricted her airways. It was sleek and metallic with four blinking lights dispersed around its circumference. Her laser knife had obviously destroyed it, as the ends she had severed were smoking, but still when she put the ends together so that it could form a circle and held it away from her body she felt a difference in the force. Electric pulses went from one side of the device to another and back again, creating an endless cycle, while the force inside felt not limp and weak, but constricted and non-existent. It was as if the force was being contained so that it could not be sensed or tracked. Furring her brow, the young woman shook her head, attempting to clear her hazy vision while she turned the device over and over again in her palm. Where was she? What had happened? How did she get there? Who had brought her? Rubbing her forehead with her free hand, still curled up in a ball on the floor, she sorted through fogged memory banks for answers to the questions. Wetting her lips she closed her eyes and remembered, briefly, the lights of a night club fading behind her as she soared through the sky with a mysterious man by her side and offering the same man yet another drink when they had returned to her apartment alone. _Geshna_.

Alantyis' now partially clear, pain wrecked brain allowed the thoughts of her last conscious moments in the hotel room to release themselves from their storage centers and into more active sectors of her brain. "_Damn_." She uttered at her foolishness and found the strength to stand on her unstable feet. How could she have been foolish enough to have been set up? How could she not have seen that he had known all along? What had she done wrong? What vital sign hadn't she noticed? "Where am I?" She spoke out loud to herself while she examined the metal plated room with particular care. Her captors had, apparently, made it a purpose to put her in as much maximum security as they could manage, in fear that she might try to escape. The thought of her captors scrambling to find a security cell strong enough to hold her until they reached their destination before she woke up was amusing to Alantyis, and it even produced a small, sarcastic smile across her face. As her eyes surveyed the structural make of the room she picked up on the fact that there were special lines of electricity running through all the walls and doors to prevent her from manually freeing herself, if she touched it she'd be dead – and the only window in the room was a small, barred one upon the door facing into the hallway. The device that had been around her neck, she guessed, had been meant to distance her from the force – leaving her primarily incapacitated and incapable of using her powers to free herself – and they had taken her weaponry to ensure that she would not attempt to use her blaster or saber to break through the electrical barrier. They did not, however, anticipate her awakening and freeing herself with a concealed weapon that not even their best detectors or friskers would have found.

Whoever Geshna had brought her to was both incredibly smart and outstandingly stupid. She would give them that much and she would even admit that their prison cell served its purpose to keep her in well. Whoever had chosen to place her in there knew what they were doing, as her limbs trembled while she stood there, affected by the energy field and ravaged by claustrophobia. "_Son of a_…" She trailed off, eyes and nostrils flaring. She hated the feeling of panic and anxiety that filled her when her claustrophobia took over. It made her feel weak, like she couldn't control her own emotions, no matter how hard she tried. Clenching her teeth so hard together that her jaw hurt she balled her hands into fists, clenching the device which had stopped her from being in contact with her ability in her hands so hard that in was nearly crushed. Uncontrollable anger welled within her, surpassing and overshadowing her feelings of shame, stupidity and claustrophobia, and boiling like water over a hot flame.

Failure was _not_ a word she wanted in her dictionary and it was now. She had failed in her mission for the Jedi Council. She had failed because she overlooked something – some notion or indication – that would have warned her about this trap. It had to have been that, because otherwise, she had no idea how the Dark Side of the force had so easily snuck up beside her and hit her over the head with the blunt side of a lamp. If she had listened harder, looked deeper and not allowed herself to be led astray by her overzealous confidence and a man with suave charm and an arrogant smile she wouldn't have been locked inside a prison cell. She would have captured Geshna and imprisoned him; she would have succeeded in her mission for the council and proven to them furthermore that she was ready for the trials. She would have shown them that she was able and willing to do all she had to for the Jedi Order. Most of all, though, if she had paid more attention to the force she knew that she might not have failed and, consequently, she would not have been standing in the cell she was now but she also knew that if that man hadn't deceived her she wouldn't have failed. He had to have slipped her something, shielded the force around him, done something to make himself seem more gullible than he really was and to affect her ability to perceive. And for that, she would make sure that he and whoever else had imprisoned her there would pay.

Blue eyes a dangerous shade of a stormy ocean narrowed into venomous slits as they stared at the door, arm thrusting foreword and back again twice. The door jiggled only once in protest before it was torn off of its hinges into the wall across from it. It rested in the metal wall parallel to where it had once been hinged for only a moment before it fell to the hallway floor with a deafening crash, an indent implanted into the shiny tile where it had collided. Sparks and smoke shot out from the doorway of the prison cell that her enemies had taken the time to so carefully secure; in the distance she could hear a siren sound to alert the guards of an escaped prisoner. Lightning flashed in her eyes, the way it streaked across her iris' resembling the way the electrical sparks penetrated through the billowing smoke coming from the doorway. _They had no idea what they were dealing with._

* * *

A sudden and distant bang jolted Cryont from his meditation, startling him so hard that his breath was temporarily erratic. From somewhere deep inside he felt a warmth stir, an emptiness that had been formed hours before was filled with the swirling image of Alantyis' laughing face and loving touch. He could hear her voice in his ear whispering words from the last civil conversation that they had had a few days before their fighting broke out. "I don't know_ why_ you worry so much; we're connected you and I. If something happens to me, you'll know. And then you'll just have to prove to me that you are the Jedi we all think you are." Her eyes had sparkled vividly when she had spoken to him, a teasing lilt in her voice, and her breath moist against his skin as she hugged him goodnight. "_I love you_."

Immediately Cryont's head snapped up, his fingers releasing the tight grip they had come to have on his brown hair and he looked around, heart pounding with excitement. There was no one in the room, with the exception of one or two cleaning droids the size of his shoe – nothing enough to cause the bang that he had heard – and the hotel had long ago shut down for the night. Still, he leaned over to peek out the door and down the dimly lit hallway but found nothing except for two flickering wall lights. _Had he truly just felt that?_ Had he sensed that spark of life within her ignite? Inside, his stomach fluttered and his heart, which had felt heavy not long ago, was swelling – filling with hope. He knew that feeling of fullness in his heart, that sensation of warmth and wholeness that he had felt just after the bang. And he was familiar with the way that her words, even in memory, so vividly affected the adrenaline in his body. She was connecting with him, whether she knew it or not. She had only done it one other time – and perhaps, a third – but it had never been this strong. He had to get to the temple, he had to alert them, let them know that she was alright. They would assemble a rescue team within an hour, and he could direct them straight to the ship that she was being held in. He knew_ exactly_ where she was, all the way to the floor she was on and the door she was standing by. If he was there, he could tell her that there was a band of Empirical soldiers preparing to capture her, yet again, depending on which way she tried to escape.

Alantyis wasn't dead. She was alive and more than anything, she was going to need help. She may have be stubborn by nature, and by genetics too, but that wouldn't be enough alone to help protect her against a whole section of the Empirical Army and the Sith.

Leaping from his seat he shoved aside a cleaning droid that was blocking his path to the hallway and dashed down the hall and out the hotel's door. He rounded the building towards the back parking lot, where he had hidden his speeder. Just as the fingers on his right hand had wrapped around the speeder's handles he felt a sudden shift in the force. It became dense, filled with more energy than there should be in a deserted parking lot late at night. The disturbance shifted, moving towards him until he heard the click of a blaster sound behind him. "Stay where you are, Jedi, and no one gets hurt."

Cryont bit his tongue, but kept his back to the voice for several moments, one hand still on the doors handle, and the other hidden beneath his cloak. More than anything, he couldn't stand Empirical soldiers. Out of the corner of his eyes he watched the soldier's white suit shift as he moved around the back end of the Jedi's speeder, his hand never wavering. His brow furred; how did the soldier know that he was a Jedi – that term was supposedly more of a myth and legend now than anything? Not even the Sith truly foresaw another rebellion. "Excuse me?" He asked, appearing honestly quizzical as he half turned himself to look at his opponent, "Did you just refer to me as one of those glorified rebel alliance soldiers? Weren't they all destroyed…? I am a member of the Empirical Force…I bow to Emperor Palpatine."

The clone soldier seemed unimpressed by his honest acting, and continued on with his harsh tone. "Hands above your head, Jedi." Again, the force stirred but, this time, he sensed another clone soldier coming up behind the first before he heard the second blaster click. "Do as we ask, and no scene will have to be created."

He cocked an eyebrow, the one furthest away from the soldiers and most shadowed by the night sky. They couldn't be serious – they expected him to follow them, politely, to death. Obviously, they either had proof that he was a Jedi or they were trying to trick him into saying that he was; whichever option it was, he knew that if he went with them, they would dispose of him. Either way, he was admitting to be a member of the Rebel Alliance and against the Empirical Reign. Lightly he sighed, fighting off the urge to shake his head by briefly closing his eyes. Did they _truly_ expect him to obey, without hesitation or defense? Opening his eyes he scanned the horizon around him, becoming in tune with the force surrounding him in a matter of seconds. He could tell every living life form within a twenty mile radius, its distance from him, and its intentions. Knowing this, he made a last minute decision.

"We said," The second soldier demanded, sticking the laser gun square between the young man's shoulder blades The clone's finger pulled back dangerously on the trigger, slowly and steadily without stopping. "Hands up Jedi."

_Oh,_ Cryont thought, _they're going to play that way. Alright; if they want to play dirty, I'll play that way._

They didn't even see what was coming he spun so fast, light saber slicing through the clones as if they were cake just as their guns released what otherwise should have been fatal shots. Golden eyes hardened over the darkened scene. The black night made it hard to see but he could sense them—twenty or so, still much alive and scattered all over the premises of the hotel, surrounding him. Without hesitation he jumped into his speeder, thrusting himself into the driver's seat without even opening the side door. Turning it on and throwing it into full speed he swerved out of the parking lot and into the densest traffic he could find before the shooting could begin, praying that the clones hadn't been smart enough to bring along a speeder as well. "M7N10," He called to his assistant droid as he slipped his headset onto his head, adjusting the controls, "contact the Masters at the base on Anta de Morta; inform them that I have made connection with Alantyis." Glancing over his shoulder, he rubbed his freshly shaven chin and chewed his cheek as he thought back to the incident in the parking lot only seconds before. "Tell them to stay where they are; something funny is going on – I think we're being watched." Shutting off his headset he made a sudden sharp turn, veering off of the main road onto a little used side street just as he heard sirens approaching in the faint distance. If he wasn't going to have the help of a rescue team he was going to have to take things into his own hands and the first matter of business that would have to be taken care of in order to do that would be to get a ship. But there wasn't time to wait for one of the local garages to open for daily business, by that time he could be caught by the Empirical forces and Alantyis dead. He knew he who he had to go see about borrowing a small two-man ship, and he knew that the man was going to strangle him for waking him at that time in the morning…that or he would set Chewie on him. Perhaps, if he was lucky, Luke would be up and save them all a whole lot of trouble – and an equally large amount of precious time.

Turning onto a road at his right he headed towards an old, abandoned factory that Hans used as a face for his ship company. Reaching into his pocket he took out his communicator and programmed it to send a message to his cousin. Pressing a small, green button he raised the device to his mouth. "I had to do it alone, Anakin."

_The Masters would never forgive him._


End file.
